Warner Bros. Discovery is putting a moratorium on all external marketing for CNN+ and has laid off CNN Chief Financial Officer Brad Ferrer, as it weighs what to do with its subscription streaming service, Axios reports.

It appears that CNN+ may be doomed.

CNN+ has 150,000 subscribers, so far. Warner Bros. Discovery plans to eventually integrate CNN+ into one giant service around HBO Max.

Replacing Ferrer is Neil Chugani, Discovery's CFO for streaming and international. Warner Bros. Discovery's CFO replacement is part of an overall restructuring for the finance team.

In all likelihood, Warner Bros. Discovery will eliminate other high-level positions to cut costs and streamline leadership in the coming weeks.

Chris Cuomo's Primetime Slot

Sources tell Axios the network is considering replacing anchor Chris Cuomo's 9 p.m. EST primetime slot with a live newscast.

CNN has invested $1 billion into the service and had planned for it to become profitable by 2026.

CNN+ launched on Roku last week, which would have boosted subscriptions. However, with marketing dollars on hold, executives inside CNN+ feel that their efforts have now been knee-capped.

CNN+ executives expected to surpass The Wall Street Journal's 2.9 million and The Washington Post's 2.7 million digital subscribers. CNN+ execs are also surprised that the network did not postpone the streaming service's launch until after the parent company's merger was completed and Discovery could put an imprint on CNN+.

Warner Bros. Discovery executives are reportedly considering leveraging some CNN+ video for free on CNN's app, as well as HBO Max, and selling ads against that content.

CNN's Original Journalistic Core

Discovery executives are primarily focused on returning CNN back to its original journalistic core, on which Ted Turner founded the cable news network, on June 1, 1980.

In a town hall last week, Discovery CEO David Zaslav told CNN employees the focus should be on hard, breaking news in primetime. CNN+'s lineup is primarily soft news, Axios reports.

This new, hard-news approach is so important to Warner Bros. Discovery higher-ups that they are willing to forego short-term profit and ratings to achieve the about-face, a source tells Axios.

As Axios previously reported, CNN+ executives hoped to attract 2 million subscribers in the first year and between 15 million and 18 million by 2026.

CNN has invested $300 million on CNN+, and has hired hundreds of journalists to support it.

CNN's new chief Chris Licht does not join the network until May 2 but has been included in some of Zaslav's meetings.